Panthers advance in play offs

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The Middle Park High School football team advanced in the playoffs on Saturday with a 21-14 victory against Grand Valley in Parachute.

The Panthers' next match up will be against Florence, the defending state champs, at 1 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 10, at Middle Park High School.

Florence won last year's state championship 35-0.

"We will have definitely have our hands full," said Troy Schmidt, head football coach for the Panthers.

With one playoff win in the books, the Panthers need three more wins to clinch the state title, though they are up against some of the state powerhouses for Division 2-A.

"Basically, we are not going to get an easy one now," Schmidt said.

The Panthers are missing four starters for the game on Saturday, but that has not affected the performance of the team that has been on the field recently, Schmidt said. "We play hard and nothing seems to phase them."

Florence is a larger school with fewer sports teams, according to Schmidt, which means they have a larger pool from which to draw football players. Florence also recently moved from a 3-A to the 2-A classification, so it is one of the larger schools in the division.

Middle Park has been utilizing strong offensive line play this season and plans to continue to take advantage of this strength in coming games, according to Schmidt.

Spectators are encouraged to wear purple and white when they come to support the Panthers this weekend. Admission to the game costs $7 for adults and $5 for students.